Hypocrite media harms swimmers

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WHAT I hate about sport this week is the immense and negative criticism put on the entire Olympic swimming team by the media.

The 2012 London Olympic swimming team must be hanging their heads in shame after being portrayed as a complete disaster due to a so called "toxic culture" and lack of discipline.

I believe it's unfair to lump all the swimmers into one basket.

Most of the swimmers did absolutely nothing wrong and have been training hard for years to reach their Olympic dream.

Years of early mornings getting up at 5am and swimming 80-100km a week aren't easy. Imagine fulfilling your dreams after years of hard work to be labelled a failure in the eyes of Australian public, mainly due to a negative spin created by the media.

They were quick to forget and made no mention of four medals won by Alicia Coutts, or the Olympic record and gold medal won by the female 4 by 100m freestyle relay team.

Critics are perhaps seeing a deeper problem than really exists. It makes me disgusted how this oversight could deter swimmers from even trying to compete at the highest level. What motivation does it give gold medal winning youngsters, like Yolane Kukla and Brittany Elmslie, to train another four years until the next Olympics?

It's funny how the media is critiquing the attitude and performance of the swim team while forgetting the bombshell they unleashed on Leisel Jones the day before her fourth Olympics.

Calling her fat and unprepared, Leisel shrugged off all doubt placing fifth in the finals. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not excusing the swimmers who have done the incorrect thing, although we have to remember they are still young. I'm just saying the media are being unfair to the majority of swimmers and perhaps they should be the ones hanging their heads in shame.

Good week

COLTS win the one-day final against favourites Harlequins in a rain interrupted match Sunday.

Bad week

RAIN forces Gympie Cats Australian Football club to evacuate clubhouse for second time in a month.